Pointe Coupee greenlights trash collection pact

Pointe Coupee greenlights trash collection pact

NEW ROADS — After months of negotiations, the Pointe Coupee Parish Police Jury has given the jury president authority to sign a five-year contract for residential trash collection with Progressive Waste Solutions.

The decision came during the jury’s regular meeting Tuesday night when the company agreed to supply and replace trash containers during the life of its five-year contract with the parish.

The company’s new agreement with the parish also mandates that it will step up its efforts to hire more Pointe Coupee Parish residents, a request made by Juror Cornell Dukes.

According to the contract presented to the jury, Progressive will continue twice-a-week service to the parish at a cost of $12.48 monthly per residence. Progressive services nearly 10,000 households in the parish.

The deal also includes a consumer price index rate cap of 3 percent and a stipulation for monthly fuel adjustment charges should gasoline prices rise above $4 a gallon.

The index is the rate the company adds to the per residence monthly charge. Historically, it has increased on an annual basis.

The fuel adjustment stipulation won’t kick in until after the first year of the contract, officials said.

The parish also asked Progressive to assume the responsibility of maintaining residential trash bins, which the company agreed to do at no extra charge after the jury scrutinized the company’s previous offer to charge the parish 75 cents per household monthly to maintain trash cans.

Juror Kurt Jarreau also persuaded the company’s representative to agree to inserting a clause into the contract giving the Police Jury the option of reducing trash pick-up to once a week should fuel prices surge.

“I think we have all the details and bugs worked out,” Parish Administrator Jim Bello told the Police Jury.

Other business before the jury included:

BOUDREAUX TRUCKING: The Police Jury renewed its contract for white goods and bulky waste collection service with Lionel Boudreaux Trucking.

The locally owned business will charge the parish $1.87 per residence to pick up large-scale and bulky trash items such as washers, dryers, refrigerators and tree limbs on a monthly basis, according to the contract.

The contract with Boudreaux Trucking also includes the same fuel adjustment agreement as the parish’s contract with Progressive.